The Mohawk Valley Diamond Dawgs were looking to bounce back
from a very disappointing 5-2 loss on Friday night, as they blew a 2-1 lead in
the ninth with two outs. Unfortunately, as the great Yogi Berra said, it was
déjà vu all over again for the Diamond Dawgs, as this time, the Newark Pilots
took advantage of four errors by Mohawk Valley and knocked off the Diamond
Dawgs, 7-2.

Mohawk Valley’s Nick Petrella (West Sayville, NY/Skidmore)
and Newark’s Jayson Yano (Foothill Ranch, CA/Stevens), the starters for their
respective teams, started out well for their respective teams, both going four
scoreless innings.

The Pilots would draw first blood as Derek Reed (Lowell,
Mass./Saint Rose) would smack a double in the fifth, scoring Logan Boyher (Chesterfield,
Missouri/Columbia). The Diamond Dawgs would take the lead in the bottom of the
fifth inning on an error, which would score Eric Strano (Robbinsville, NJ/Rider),
and a big triple by Greg Fazio (Fair Hills, NJ/Rider), which would score Jayson
Sullivan (Charlton, NY/Sacred Heart).

Unfortunately, that lead would be all that the Diamond Dawgs
(17-11) would have, as the Pilots (18-13) would score three runs in both the
sixth and seventh innings, two on a big home run by Jack Gerstenmaier
(Richmond, VA/Virginia), and a throwing error by Petrella which would score
Gerstenmaier and Braxton Wilks (Sugar Land, Texas/Kansas State).

Gus Craig (Eugene, Oregon/Columbia) would start the
fireworks display in Little Falls early with a solo blast to center field off
closer Daniel Imbro (Little Rock, Arkansas/Hendrix), but it was not enough, as
Imbro would get the last three Diamond Dawgs in order to put the game away.

Yano would get the win for the Pilots, their third in a row,
upping his record to 5-1. Petrella would pick up his first loss, the Diamond
Dawgs’ third in a row, dropping his record to 4-1.

The Diamond Dawgs will try to get off the losing trail on
Sunday as they will travel to Amsterdam to face the East-leading Mohawks. The
Pilots will try to retake the West Division lead on Monday as they will head
back to Colburn Park to face the Elmira Pioneers.